Sunday, October 6, 2013

The Pinnacles is a spot where it's difficult to get a sense of scale. The wall is quite steep, and the material composing it looks awfully crumbly and friable. Even if clambering down is permitted (and I doubt it is), it would likely be dangerous. And if one did manage to get down without breaking a number of useful bones, the climber would probably find it impossible to get back up again. The point is, I can't tell just how large some of those clasts embedded with the finer tephra really are. Some look quite large though, and speak volumes about the violence and energy with which the deposits were emplaced. This is roughly seven miles from the crater rim; trying to conceive of an ignimbrite carrying clasts that large, that far, is difficult for me.